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Description
The project aims to activate school communities through the implementation of participatory budgets in 16 schools in Podlaskie and Warmian-Mazurian Provinces. The research ''Civic activation of young Poles'' conducted by the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences shows that only 15% of young people in Poland are involved in civic activities. Our experience confirms that the majority of school students do not have a sense of influence on what happens at school, and school councils are often seen as initiated by adults. This results in school students not wanting to get involved in school life. Their social activism declines, they are disillusioned with self-government and believe that little depends on them. Giving students a real say in the running of the school through participatory budgets can make a difference. This is evidenced by the results of the evaluations of the school participatory budget processes we have carried out so far. School participatory budgeting is also a good opportunity to improve social competences such as teamwork, planning, media competence or creativity. In addition, school communities integrate around common goals and learn to work together. As part of the project, we provide training on participatory budgeting and workshops to build young people''s social and media competences. We provide mentor support at every stage of the implementation of the school participatory budget. Trained teachers and students try to involve the whole school community as much as possible in the decision-making process for spending the budget. Each school has a budget of 3,000 PLN. The results of the project will be presented by the organisers and the student teams during the closing conferences.
Summary of project results
1. Low social and civic activity of young people
Psychological research report (2018) entitled "Civic activation of young Polish women and young Poles" conducted by the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences with funds from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education showed that the percentage of truly engaged and civic youth is small (about 15%). The rest are usually disappointed with socio-political life and cut themselves off from it. Why is this happening? One of the reasons indicated by the respondents is that the school only provides "dry facts" and does not teach civic life.
2. Lack of students'' sense of influence on school and surrounding matters.
Student governments (SU) should be an important element of practical implementation of students'' participation and social activity. As the diagnosis made by the CEO shows, most students do not have a sense of influence on what is happening at school, student councils are often perceived as initiated by adults, and people from local government authorities are not recognized as representing the interests of students. This means that students do not want to get involved in school life, their social activity decreases over the years, and they enter adult life largely disappointed with self-government and convinced that little depends on them.
3. Few opportunities to acquire social competences at school
School does not provide adequate space for acquiring soft skills. Through community involvement. students can acquire new skills and expand their knowledge about other people and the world, as well as develop their strengths.
4. Lack of knowledge of school communities regarding the implementation of school participatory budgets
SBP is relatively unpopular, therefore knowledge about how to implement it is still low in school environments.
As part of the project, we carried out 16 school participatory budgeting (SBP) processes in 16 primary and secondary schools in the province. Podlasie and Warmia-Masuria, involving students in the decision-making process regarding the use of financial resources in the amount of PLN 3,000. Students submitted projects and then voted on the ones they liked the most. In total, over 5,200 people took part. At the beginning of the activities, we organized a total of 4 training courses (2 in each voivodeship) preparing for the implementation of the school budget. In total, we trained 64 people in this topic, as well as in communication and media competences (students) and tutoring (teachers). There were also 16 workshops for the coordinating teams, one per school in each voivodeship, attended by a total of 130 people. The aim of the workshops was to prepare the SBP regulations and determine the course of organization of processes in individual facilities. Then, the mentors conducted 16 lessons in schools for school governments about SBP, in which 374 people took part. As a result of the processes, 17 winning projects were implemented in schools, including: equipment such as sofas, pouffes, sports equipment, corridor benches and many others were purchased. At the end of the project, we organized two summary conferences (one in each voivodeship - the 3rd Civic Education Forum in Białystok and the Local Educational Forum in Ełk), attended by a total of 136 people. Additionally, we have prepared 20 short films promoting school participatory budgets, which are available on the SocLab Foundation''s YouTube channel.
By participating in the training, the participants significantly improved their knowledge of what school participatory budgets are. This knowledge turned out to be useful for them and was used when taking specific actions in schools. In terms of using knowledge in practice, training in presentations and public speaking was very useful, and the young people actually used it when talking about school participatory budgets. Tutoring training turned out to be important for teachers - it made them feel more empowered, learned how to work better with students and increased their competences. We observed changes in the self-assessment of five areas among students actively participating in the project: communication, organization and planning, responsibility, teamwork and problem solving. There has been a positive change in many of these areas. The process itself strengthened the students'' sense of influence on what happens at school and triggered the desire to get involved in school matters.
Participatory school budgeting is becoming more and more widespread in the province. Podlasie and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. With our support, schools have followed a path that they are now able to implement in their facilities on their own. We know that many schools intend to continue SBP this school year. The Foundation can strengthen its advocacy activities based on its experience. This was clearly demonstrated by the 3rd Civic Education Forum in Białystok, during which teachers and students repeatedly emphasized what a great tool SBP is for strengthening students'' activity. The Foundation will also continue the theme on a local and international scale. We are currently starting to implement SBP on a municipal scale, in cooperation with the Wasilków commune, and we will soon begin research and educational activities on an international scale on this topic, which makes us a leading organization dealing with this topic in Poland and Europe.